. >> reporter: president obama used his first interview since his re-election to drive home his insistence that key to the u.s. beginning to pay down its debt and avoid going over the fiscal cliff is raising tax rates on the wealthiest americans. >> we're going to have to see the rates on the top 2% go up, and we're not going to be able to get a deal without it. >> reporter: if republicans agree to do that, the president told bloomberg television, he'll agree to serious spending cuts. republicans have offered to raise taxes on higher incomes by $800 billion, not by raising tax rates, but by eliminating some deductions and loopholes. during last year's budget showdown, the president said he wanted to do exactly that. >> what we said was give us $1.2 trillion in additional revenues, which could be accomplished without hiking tax rates, but could simply be accomplished by eliminating loopholes, eliminating some deductions and engaging in a tax reform process that could have lowered rates generally while broadening the base. >> reporter: but now the president does not. he says it will not rais